Georgian officials announced yesterday the capture of nerve gas concentrate and radioactive materials that were that were discovered inside a taxicab in the capital Tbilisi, according to the Boston Globe.

During a routine search May 31, Georgian police discovered three boxes inside the taxicab, officials said.  One box contained a brown liquid that was later determined to be a nerve gas concentrate, Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Givi Mgebrishvili said.  Earlier reports had identified the liquid as mustard gas agent, the Globe reported.

Noting the possibility that the recovered liquid could be Russian mustard gas agent, Russian ecological activist Maxim Shingarkin warned that it would be easy to steal such material.

“It is kept in huge barrels in three large sites in central Russia,” Shingarkin said.  “Anyone who has access could just walk up and pour it out,” he said.

Inside the two other boxes, police discovered cesium 137 and strontium 90, both of which could be used to build radiological weapons.

“These substances could be used to create a … dirty bomb, which would be operational within a 500- to 600-meter radius (about one-third of a mile), and would create a larger area of radioactive fallout,” Mgebrishvili said.

The recovered materials were likely destined for Turkey to be resold, Mgebrishvili said.  Police have detained the taxicab’s driver, and two other suspects have reportedly been arrested, including a man living on the Georgian-Turkish border (David Filipov, Boston Globe, June 17).

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